Step 8: Fine copies of the Golden Filigree Eggcase

EpilogueOn making copies and the origination of the Faberge legend.On the sea passage back to England, I had the pleasure of dinning at the Captain's ...

Dear Instructables Member

It is my absolute honour to relate to you the following story.

One afternoon last week, quite by accident, while looking for my trusty ivory ophthalmoscope in a tea chest I had not opened for nearly 50 years, I came across one of my old journals. Lazy, late-day sunlight filtered through the dusty attic window, and as time was not pressing, I idly thumbed through the pages. The adventures therein, though captured in such a naive and faded narrative, reminded me of my wilder days, long since passed, and rendered the rest of the afternoon to an oblivion of reminiscing and recollection. Nought further might have come of this chance discovery had not my manservant, Collinworth, suggested over the lightly buttered toast the next morning, that the very pages that had been so demanding of my attention the day before could yet render me, and others, an invaluable service, in permitting me to describe the delicate process of constructing a Golden Filigree Dragon's Eggcase, and the use thereof to extract an original of the same against the auspices of a wary and ever watchful eye of the Tibetan Lung. Now you can read more about this story, follow my instruction herein, find out how it was my endeavours that inspired Carl Faberge to make his first egg for the Tzar and also learn how I got my name.

What about plain ol' lost wax casting? Fancy specialized equipment, yes, but only if you're a real pro jeweler. This project you could do with simple steam casting and a butane torch, for practically nothing. A large tin can or piece of scrap plumbing pipe would work for a casting flask. You could do the wax burnout using a kiln, or even a hotplate, if a kiln is not handy.

I'm just wondering why you used two cups and not just use a blown out egg? I haven't used hot glue on one yet but you should be able to just mash it a bit afterwards and pull out the shell. I do like the shape of yours however as it does not look like it was formed around a hens egg. Great job. I have been checking this out for a while thinking it would be a great craft to to with the kids one weekend.

If you wanted, you could probably get a goose egg at an organic store and use it instead. They have a more elongated shape. Or sometimes you could get duck eggs, ostrich eggs, all kinds of eggy possibilities.

I think you answered the question yourself. I had already done one round a hen's egg and I wanted a different look, a bit more oblong, like a dinosaur egg. Have a look at my site, <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.dadcando.com/">dadcando</a>dadcando.com , for tons of cool things just like this to do with the kids.<br/>

This is great! I am making one now, along with a dragon embryo, and I am going to make a museum style display case with information plates and other artifacts like claws, and I am going to enter it in the county fair. Should be first place material! Oh, by the way, I made the egg with a real egg shell (Empty, of course!) and dissolved the egg in vinegar. The dragon embryo was my design, and I am giving it partial scales along with other details of only partial construction at pre-natal stage.

I have found that when the hot glue is still fresh and largely un-handled, gold leaf will adhere quite nicely and buff up toa bright, solid gold sheen, much more solid-looking than a sprayed finish. Wait until the glue has cooled (applying the leaf while warm will cause wrinkles as the glue contracts slightly during cooling, whereas the metal leaf will not shrink... an effect one might happily explore as well.), work the leaf onto all surfaces with a soft paintbrush. Slicing the gilded glue with a scalpel (Xacto) to extract the cups should be easy to reseal with a little heat and smoothing on another bit of leaf.

great idea, I think that would look very very nice. I am just getting a quote to have it cast in bronze and then gold plated, and then blue enameled on the inside, which is not as expensive as you might think. But I think i might try the gold leaf idea, I do have some and I noticed that the surface was slightly tacky. however when you peel off the layer of glue you do bend it about quite a bit, wouldn't this wrinkle up the leaf?

Hmm.. don't know. Whenever I've leafed hot glue, it was never bent much - usually on stiff substrates. Here's an idea, once you peel it and are done bending it, give it a quick shot with a blow dryer... it should re-tack the surface and smooth any fingerprints and scratches. Leaf it cool, and then hit it with a spritz of clear sealer.

that's a good idea I might try that on my next one. I have just got a quote from a small nonferrous foundry to have the egg latticework cast in bronze and then gold plated and coated with iridescent blue enamel on the inside.... that should be really nice

It worked out so expensive at the time (I think it was something like £750 for the first one) I just couldn't get it done. I might go back to them one day. I'm working with them on another project. The gold plating is very cheap by comparison, about £25, and silver plating is even cheaper at about £15, but you have to start with a metal object (mostly).

If the price included making a mould from your completed egg you could possibly avoid that price by making the egg from wax. Removing the egg from the master egg would be a different matter though as you'd need some way to dissolve or cut up the master egg. What you should end up with though would be a wax model that could be cast either in silver, brass or bronze. Another way to go would be to make the egg as you usually do then use an electroformer to apply a metal coating to the surfaces. Using a conductive paint you electroform ( a process similar to electroplating) a metal coating over the constructed egg.

They were photographs post produced using Photoshop. I got my daughter to lean over my shoulder and take the photographs. A few like the spraying and the hot glue gun were adapted with bits and pieces of images I got of an antique medical equipment website. The I cut the photos out so that they were on a white background. Then in photoshop I: Enhanced the contrast Enhanced the saturation Used Poster Edges filter Further enhanced and tuned the saturation / contrast brightness Cut the image out so that it was on a transparent background Made up a page of old parchment type paper Composed the subject on the parchment Dressed the image with scanned in signature and fake family crest from a Dover book I have Easy really.

I have no idea, I'm sorry. I searched for Antique Medical Equipment on Google Images and then looked at each site quite a few pages deep until I found one that looked like it had some decent stuff on. I didn't use the pictures as they were but cut them all up and used other images from other sites as well. YOU could try looking for antique amputation saw on Google Images, that should bring something up (if not your lunch)... try not to remember that these instruments were used before antisepsis was considered important and well before the advent of anesthesia... oooo makes me queasy just thinking about it.

Hi you're right, I am the author of this instructable and I didn't download the images, but I did use some images from an antique medical instruments aution site to get some of the bits I needed for one or two of the images. the handle of the glue gun is downloaded and then treated as I said above and then dropped into a picture that my daughter took of my hand, the same goes for the spray gun, that is a cut up image of an antique nebuliser I found somewhere. the original photos where then cut up and treated as above and then made to look like I was holding them etc etc. SO no not really downloaded, but then again some of the elements were taken and severely doctored by me.

No I don't mind, it's not really a secret, although thanks for the offer. Searching for the images took all evening and the retouching them wasn't a five minute job either, the result speaks for itself and I think I earned the look rather than just lifting someone else's work, and anyway, even the best artists (of which I am not one) use reference to get there images right... thx

About This Instructable

Bio:Eldest of five, son of two doctors, 10 years in Graphic Design and marketing, then retrained as a Biomedical Materials Engineer, don't ask me why, I think it was because I had always wanted to design ...read more »